Ambiguity
by cherryredxx
Summary: Draco and Ginny collection, written for the So You Think You Can Write competition on HPFC.
1. Wishing On Stars

**A/N:** Another drabble/oneshot collection ;). This one will be strictly Draco/Ginny and will continue for as long as I last in the So You Think You Can Write Competition on the wonderful HPFC forums.

This particular entry is AU and depicts a scene from a battle in an unnamed location. The characters are a bit older in this story – mid-twenties.

**Prompts:** Counting Stars ; Surrender

**Word Count:** 796

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It was easy for him to take away her control. Though she had been fighting up until that point, vehemently refusing to surrender to him throughout the rest of the battle, it took only a split second before she had nothing. Her hands and feet were bound together as she remained tied to a tree, slightly elevated above ground level. Though she tried to wiggle free, to combat her tight restraints, she couldn't keep her thoughts away from what was going on in the distance.

"Is this how your sort wins, Malfoy?" she spat, eying him fiercely. "You tie up innocent girls to trees?"

Draco hadn't been looking at her until that point, but his eyes darted to latch with hers in an instant. "Once again, Weasley, you have managed to prove that you know absolutely nothing."

She continued to struggle, but the fact that her feet were not on solid ground greatly diminished any change she had of being able to release herself. Nevertheless, Ginny was resilient; she wouldn't give up trying to escape for as long as she was alive.

"If I were you, I'd stop squirming and save my energy," he told her coolly as he sat down on the ground before her. His knees were up and his arms were wrapped around them for support. "You're not going to be able to get down like that."

Her silly Gryffindor bravery tuned him out. "I'd never surrender to your lot, Malfoy," the redhead hissed. She could feel the tightness of the ropes digging into her wrists and she could hear the sounds of battle raging in the distance. Even if she could escape, there was no guarantee that she'd make any sort of difference, but that didn't matter to her. All she knew was that her family was out there, every one of them, fighting for their lives and their freedom. But not her. She had been stupid enough to be drawn away from the battle by Draco Malfoy, to let down her guard just enough so that he would be able to overpower her. It was her own fault, her own stupidity. "Why won't you just let me go?"

The blond lifted an eyebrow at her question. "You're even more stupid than I thought if you really have to ask that question."

Ginny spent the next few minutes, twisting and struggling and turning, willing to try anything to just get down from that bloody tree, but her attempts were fruitless. Unbidden, a loud cry of defeat escaped from her lips and she hung her head low, her chin almost reaching her chest. Involuntary tears of being conquered by someone she hated began flowing gently down her dirt-stained cheek.

"Stop it, Weasley," Draco said, his voice quiet. "Crying isn't going to get you anywhere with me."

She sniffed slightly, looking up into the black abyss. There were so few stars in the sky that she was able to count them. Twenty-three. She sent up twenty three wishes – prayers - to twenty-three different stars, hoping that someone, somewhere, could help her to get out of the mess that she had got herself into. It had been stupid of her to have been where she was, to attempt to fight one of the fiercest and most loyal Death Eaters while expecting to arise as the victor. Ginny realized at that moment that she had never stood a chance.

"What's going to happen to me?" Ginny asked, her voice surprisingly even and calm despite her heartbreaking revelation. "Are you – are you going to kill me?"

Malfoy stared at her, his piercing grey eyes locking with hers for so long that Ginny began to think she would not receive an answer from him. His expression softened significantly as they searched each other, both wanting and needing to know how the other was feeling. "If I was going to kill you," Draco began, his voice soft, "I'd have done it already."

Ginny released an involuntary breath of relief. "So – so, what happens now?"

"I don't know."

"But you won't – you're not going to let me die?"

He lifted an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"When you… brought me back here, to this clearing, did you – did you do it to save me?"

For another long moment, they stared at each other. "Don't read into what I'm doing, Weasley," he muttered, drawing his eyes away from her and into the distance, the sounds of battle suddenly becoming louder and louder than ever.

She closed her eyes gently. "You saved me," she reiterated. "Again."

Draco stood, brushing the dirt off his jeans as he pointed his wand at Ginny. In a second, she was unbound, twisting and flexing her aching wrists. He began to walk away. "Don't make me regret it."


	2. Kindred

**Prompts:** rumors and reputations, moonlight on his/her face, "You'd like to know me well, but I've got things inside my head that even I can't face."- David

**Word Count:** 587

* * *

She sat alone at the bar, her right leg crossed over her left, classic black heels adorning her pointed toes. Though her posture indicated otherwise, her facial expression made her appear to be utterly bored. Her chin rested against her knuckles as she carelessly eyed the rows of liquor before her.

He sidled up beside her, taking a seat to her immediate left.

After sparing a bored glance in his direction, the redhead returned her gaze to the liquor shelves. "Can I help you?" she asked in a low monotone.

"I'd like to buy you a drink," the blond drawled lazily. "Rumor has it you're quite the lush."

She suddenly appeared much more amused as she turned to him with an eyebrow lifted. "You've got quite the reputation yourself, don't you?" she questioned. "But I'm not fooled by you. Not in the slightest bit."

"Two shots of Firewhisky," he called, tapping on the table to grab the attention of the bartender. He turned his attention back to the woman at his right. "You do drink Firewhisky, don't you?"

A small smirk crossed her lips slowly as she pressed the small glass to her lips, knocking back her shot easily. "Another, if you would," she requested to the bartender.

The blond eyed her curiously, and she could feel his eyes burning through her, studying her and analyzing her. She was different, and she was well aware of that fact. The time that passed since she had completed her schooling had been both cruel and kind, both giving and taking. She hardly knew herself anymore, and a part of her did not want to come to terms with that.

She took her second shot of the searing red liquid, suppressing the urge to make a face as it burned at her throat. "Another," she said. "A double this time."

She could still feel his eyes on her, and so she finally turned to look at him. The moonlight reflected through the glass windows, illuminating his pale, pointed features and making his eyes appear much brighter. Though she wanted to, she couldn't deny how striking he was, how handsome he was in a non-conventional sense. Her eyelids drifted closed for a moment, and when she re-opened them, she was unsurprised to see that he was still staring at her. "I'm not sure what you want from me, Draco Malfoy, but I assure you, I haven't got anything you'd be interested in."

It was his turn to lift an eyebrow in amusement. "How can you be at all certain about what I want, Weasley?"

Ginny laughed out a hollow, humorless sound. "I know you'd like to get to know me, but there's really no sense in trying. I don't even know me anymore. I don't know me at all."

"I know you a lot better than you think, Weasley," Draco responded softly, not missing a beat. "And I know that misery loves company."

She took back her shot before slamming the glass against the bar with such vigor that she was surprised it hadn't broken from the force of it. Her teeth began worrying her bottom lip and, for the first time in a long time, she looked vulnerable. "What gives you the idea that I'm miserable?" Ginny asked, her brown eyes softening as she gazed into his translucent grey orbs.

He said nothing as he took back his shot, but their eyes remained locked.

Ginny knew – could sense it, could feel it, could taste it – that they were kindred spirits.


End file.
